News

GameSpy Takes Gearbox's Borderlands Survey

Here at GameSpy, we're card carrying members of the League of Pandora Vault Hunters. That is to say, we're big fans of Gearbox Software's 2009 role-playing shooter, Borderlands. But like all games – particularly debut IPs – it has its flaws, flaws that we're hoping Gearbox will address in its recently announced sequel, Borderlands 2. The good news is, the studio is actively seeking gamer input in an effort to improve the franchise, and we decided to take Gearbox's official Borderlands survey right here with you.

Yup, Gearbox recently hit up gamers for their thoughts on Borderlands, and instead of simply adding our thoughts to their survey database, we thought we'd stand up on the proverbial digital soap box and provide our answers in feature form. So without further ado, it's time to take the Gearbox Borderlands survey!

Gearbox: Hello,

This is a survey for Borderlands. Gearbox prides itself in listening to the community, and this is your chance to influence the future of the Borderlands franchise. Please answer the following question so we can use your feedback to improve our game.

GameSpy: Howdy! Be happy to help. Whattaya got?

Gearbox: What three features are the most important in your Borderlands experience?

Weapons
Character Class/Action Skill
Enemies
Bosses
Vehicles
Story

GameSpy: Hmm. Just three and not all six, eh? Alright, if we have to pick three, we'll take Character Class/Action Skill, Enemies, and Story. Don't get us wrong, we think all six are critical components in the Borderlands experience, but out of those six things, we think you need to work on Character Class/Action Skill, Enemies, and Story the most.

The original four classes in Borderlands were fun, but we'd like to see more variety. Enemies… how do we put this politely… were dumber than a bag of hammers -- and that goes for bosses, too. And while we liked the overall vault hunt storyline, you need to seriously work on creating an engrossing narrative that makes us want to travel to new places in Pandora and not simply the next objective point on a map.

Scattergun? We want our socks blown off by the weapons in Borderlands 2.

GameSpy: We've checked off Other here, but our answer is most closely related to Weapon Types, if that helps. What we want in Borderlands 2 is a wider variety guns with more unique properties. Sounds crazy given the thousands of customization options available in the original -- but we're talking truly unique gear that will make our eyes go wide when we first pull the trigger. Think crazy experiments from Aperture Labs and you get the idea.

And with such a massive game world, why not stash away a few more high-level, nearly impossible to obtain weapons? We're talking about the type of gun that you can stroll into a co-op match with and have your friends freak out about. It doesn't have to be game-breaking powerful, it just has to be rare. Don't be afraid to go all Final Fantasy Tactics on us and hide a few Cloud's Materia Blade-like weapons here and there.

GameSpy: Glad you asked us about this one, and once again we're struggling to pick just one thing. All the options you provide are important, and in Borderlands 2, one thing that definitely needs to be addressed is changing a character's outfit/appearance. Jump into the online world of Borderlands, and it's like you're fighting in the Clone Wars. So please, allow us to customize our character's appearance to truly make him/her our own in Borderlands 2.

We'd be remiss if we didn't also add that Variety in Skill Tree is also of the utmost importance. Don't simply give a skill for a Hunter a different name and logo and throw it into the Siren class, we want real variety in our skill trees so the character classes provide truly different gameplay experiences.

GameSpy: We believe we addressed this question when we referred to enemies in Borderlands as being "dumber than a bag of hammers." We're not quite sure what that means exactly, but a bag of hammers can't be too bright. So, yes, our answer is most definitely Enemies that Behave Intelligently.

Bad guys and creatures in Borderlands came in two types: those that charged at you in waves until they were all dead, and those who shot at you and occasionally ducked behind cover. The AI in the original was flat out poor – including in boss battles – and this really needs to be addressed to improve the overall experience in Borderlands 2.

Gearbox: Would you prefer to have choices for vehicle control schemes?

Yes or No?

GameSpy: Um, yes? Of course! You know as well as we do PC gamers in particular want to be able to put their gaming keyboards and mice to good use. So, yeah, don't just give us choices for vehicle control, let us do our own full-blown control assigning.

Gearbox: What would you like to say to Gearbox Software about the Borderlands franchise?

GameSpy: Wow, final question, and it's a good one. As we said at the outset, we're fans, so first off, kudos for creating a fun, open-world role-playing shooter and for expanding upon it with some truly enjoyable, worthwhile DLC adventures.

If there's one piece of advice we can humbly offer while you're coding away on Borderlands 2, it's this: don't be afraid to go deeper. So many studios releasing sequels these days are trying to appeal to every gamer under the sun, and in the process, their "streamlined" efforts end up losing what made the core franchise special in the first place. And yes, we're looking at you Fable III and Dragon Age II.

Dig deeper with Borderlands 2, Gearbox. We want to create unique custom characters, we want to be challenged by enemies that are more than bullet magnets, and we will gladly take all of the hardcore RPG class and skill tree nerdity you throw at us.

Just one thing: don't even think about touching one single pile of that copious, glimmering, gorgeous loot.

Spy Guy says: Your turn. We want to hear from you about what you'd like to see most in Borderlands 2. Hit the comments section and answer a few of Gearbox's survey questions yourself.